A man has died after his car tumbled through a concrete barrier in a multi-storey parkade at the University of British Columbia, falling to the ground “nose-first.”
In an update Thursday, RCMP said the man died at the scene.
Ten Vancouver Fire Rescue Services vehicles responded to the incident by Fraser Hall at Thunderbird Boulevard and Wesbrook Mall around 9:30 a.m.
According to public information officer Capt. Matthew Trudeau, a large piece of “concrete beam” was on top of the vehicle, complicating the rescue amid heavy falling snow.
Trudeau said rescuers had to pry apart the vehicle, carefully, to get the person out of the vehicle safely.
“We have a significant concrete barrier that’s still precariously hanging off the second storey above the scene, which landed onto a battery-energized storage box close to a high-voltage area,” Trudeau told Global News.
“The vehicle is still in a precarious spot as well, so multiple safety concerns for crews and for the vehicle and individual.”
The driver was pulled from the wreckage around noon, before being taken away in an ambulance.
Trudeau said crews remained on the scene to stabilize the area. It’s unclear how the accident happened.
“This one is probably obviously a first for the number of specific hazards in this,” he said of the crews’ previous exposure to complicated rescues like Wednesday’s.
They have, however, pulled numerous cars out of buildings before, he added — it happens about once a month.
As of 6:30 p.m., UBC said anyone with a vehicle parked at the impacted lot could come and retrieve it.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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